You all should love this. Here we go.
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The race:
http://sys12.cs.jmu.edu/hawleycj/vid...clipse_GSX.wmv
The destruction (2 mins, Lower Res - 10 MB):
http://sys12.cs.jmu.edu/hawleycj/vids/aftermath-low.WMV
The story:
I was headed to work yesterday morning with my friend Brian. We spotted a new E46 M3 up ahead on the highway. He was turning right at a stoplight, so we decided to take a detour.
As we followed suit, I gunned it and got up next to him in the left lane. I paced him for a couple seconds and gave him a big smile. Just then a stoplight turned red in front of us and we slowed to a stop. I looked over at the M3 owner and pointed forward. He acknowledged with a head nod so I knew it was on.
Brian had grabbed the video camera minutes before and had been taping the entire event. He kept the camera low so the driver wouldn't see it. We didn't want to spook the guy out of the race. M3 owners never seem to race me up here in Northern VA.
The traffic signal for the opposing turn lane turned yellow, then red. I pressed the accelerator to the floor and my launch limiter kept the revs at a very noisy 5500 RPMs. I wasn't looking at the M3 owner's face at this point, but I'm assuming he was getting a bit nervous.
The light turns green and I let the clutch up quickly. I didn't sidestep it, as I was still worried about my new transmission (I had just shattered my center differential two weeks before). The clutch slipped ever so slightly, all four tires gripped the pavement, and I was off with zero wheelspin from my brand new 225/45ZR17 Kumho Ecsta Supra tires.
The M3 driver was just as alert. He had been inching forward the entire time and actually began accelerating a fraction of a second before me. This didn't help him much though. By the end of first gear, which winds out almost immediately, the M3 was just behind my front bumper.
After a loud backfire (running rich as hell) I granny shifted into 2nd (still babying the tranny) and wound out 2nd gear. The M3 was falling back fast and was about two cars behind at this point. Third gear was coming up and I was excited, because it is definitely my power gear. I found 3rd and began to pull away even harder, and then it happened.
Screws were thrown into my exhaust pipe. At least that's what it sounded like. My heart sunk to the bottom of my chest. I knew what the horrible sound really was. My completely stock shortblock with 78,000 miles finally gave out.
I hadn't gotten my car to the dyno yet, but conservative estimates were somewhere just above 450 bhp at the flywheel, untuned. That's about 112 hp per piston/rod. If you have any doubts about these numbers, just watch the video of the destruction.
I knew it was going to happen sometime, but I sure didn't expect it at that moment. I had tuned the car conservatively and was running rich. My EGTs had only peaked at about 880 deg C, I had no detonation, I was running only 18 psi, and I had not even added any additional spark timing advance. I guess 78,000 miles of hard driving, 50 or so clutch dumps, around 10 drag strip runs, a few road racing events, ten or so autocrosses did it in.
I limped over to the side of the road as the M3 driver passed me by (laugh it up guys!!!! ) with an astonished look on his face. I got out of the car and sat on the grass for a few minutes, contemplating what had just happened. In retrospect, that was a good thing to do. I didn't need dents in the side of my door, and I definitely didn't need a broken foot.
So the flatbed came and towed the car back to my house. The beast had left a lake coolant and oil where she rested. Brian and I went back to the scene of the disaster later in the day and discovered the bottom portion of a connecting rod and a thumb-size chunk of iron block. These two pieces were only a small hint of the destruction we would uncover later in the day after we removed the cylinder head.
Once we got home from work, we removed the head in just over an hour. What we uncovered was easily the worst carnage we had ever seen as a result of a bent connecting rod. The entire engine block and all its internal components literally disintegraed.
Schrapnel from exploding pistons and bearings was shot out the back of the iron block into the firewall (which was the loud sound we heard inside the car). The balance shaft was smashed through the rear of the block, creating a hand-size hole through which the crankshaft was easily visible. Multiple connecting rods were bent, twisted, melted, etc. Pistons were completely mangled and cylinder two had a silver-dollar size hole in the cylinder wall.
All in all, it could have been much worse (really!), as the damage was localized to the short block. Surprisingly, the cylinder head was untouched, except two very small nicks on the exhaust valves of the number one cylinder. No significant metal fragments exited my exhaust, as my exhaust turbine fins were untouched.
In goes the race block w/ forged internals. This sure was a learning experience. I was hoping the stock block would hold up for a bit longer, but oh well.
If you got this far, thanks for reading. Please do not start saying anything about the validity of any of my comments. Everything happened as I stated it (to the best of my recollection), and the M3 driver was definitely racing me. I'm sorry if you don't believe me for some reason.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that! I will post again when we get the block out of the car and we can remove more pistons/rods/bearings from the oil pan! Yay!!! I will also post the install of my new motor if anyone is interested. Let me know if you all have any problems downloading or viewing the videos. I will be posting them in different resolutions and formats (hopefully MPG) tomorrow, along with pics of the carnage.
Chris
Last edited by EclipsorGreen; 05-02-2003 at 12:16 AM.
Im sorry about your car, nice kill.
What's up with not cutting the pinky fingernail?
Do they really suck? Ohhh, cuz I wasn't sure, but now that you and your bud confirmed it, I know the truth about those crappy cars...you know... the ones that don't blow up when you drive them.
ouch, your tuning must have bene off a little bit or something???...my friend had a 20g in his fwd laser and boosted 24psi on the street...dynoed at 375 at the wheels with stock internals and never blew shit apart like that....wowsers...
good luck with the new motor..
I just cant believe that...... How..What...Damn thats a lot of heat and power.
haha ur car got owned
he wasnt even racing.
he is too balla not too
why u hiding when taking a video.
cuz that isnt cool.
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...threadid=81577
u just got owned by e46 peeps rofl
Last edited by MMJ4mil; 05-02-2003 at 02:50 AM.
and here is the full length video of him and his friend talking smack about the the m3.
and i think i spot a ounce of weed?
http://www.illz.net/E46_M3_VS_Eclipse_GSX.wmv
i have love for all cars but in look at it at all the angles. your car is pretty well built, you said your pushing somewhere in the area of 450hp. now i know the m3 is a 300 hp car and it came like that stock. but if the m3 put half of the money that you spent on your car than the m3 would also be faster. so how would that race end up. i know its easy to build any car to be faster than another stock car but what if that other stock car is also fixed up. and the driver was aware of a race and really was into it? would it be a different story? how much does a person need to spend on their car just to make it as fast as the next car, its something that us gear heads will do for ever, but to call the M3 a sucky car isnt right. yet i also remind you that bmw's especially M's are not meant to go in a straight line. try to take it out in the twisties, its a whole new ball game from there.
"Understanding requires not just a moment of perception, but a continuous awareness, a continuous state of inquiry without conclusion." - Bruce Lee
i thot the 'recommended' max hp on a stock internals for a dsm is like 300hp....anything more would be asking for it.
MMJ, three posts in a row. Post whoring tonight?
Those people at E46Fanatics are dicks. They actually think the M3 would beat the Eclipse??? HELL NO. Those people there are just friggin retards that drive a woman's car, the E46.
Damn, that really sucks bad man. But why did you race if you knew your car was in such bad shape? What road were you racing on?
And how about all the E46 M3 engines that have been blowing up? Seem to forget about those?Originally posted by savemike
the ones that don't blow up when you drive them.
BMW Cigar And Gun Club Member #7
Hmm...that's unfortunate it happened. No matter which car it happens to ... blowing the engine is never a good thing -- many f/i bimmer members can attest to this.
What a prick that E46 M3 guy was ... he should have pulled over to help. Because he was DEFINITELY behind you and could see what was happening. If I ever see this guy, I'll hunt him down and lay the smack on him for you ... over and over ... and over
Why did you launch at 5500 rpm's? Isnt' that WAY to high on a GSX? I would think 2-3K would be the prime spot to avoid wheel hop.
Let me ask a question, those EGT's seem REALLY low ... what was your oil temperature when you tried this? Are you sure your car was adequately warmed up enough? I know that some people in civics/integra's/eclipses in my apartment have followed me onto the highway and have revved their engine, downshifted and raced away from me ... but, I let them ... since I give my vehicle at least 20 minutes before really trying to get on the fun pedal.
Thai good luck, as in ... from Thailand. He's not a cocaine addict. He uses it mostly as a tool; it comes in handy as a screw driver.Originally posted by Deadeye
What's up with not cutting the pinky fingernail?
Chris
M3s do not suck. My "camera man" was joking. I removed the original unedited video from the site and posted the one without our stupid comments. Both myself and my passenger would love to own an M3.Originally posted by savemike
Do they really suck? Ohhh, cuz I wasn't sure, but now that you and your bud confirmed it, I know the truth about those crappy cars...you know... the ones that don't blow up when you drive them.
Chris
An ounce of weed? Jesus Christ, it was a plastic bag from my passenger's BREAKFAST!!!Originally posted by MMJ4mil
and i think i spot a ounce of weed?
Chris
Last edited by EclipsorGreen; 05-02-2003 at 08:53 AM.
I hope you're kidding MMJ4mil. Like I said in my post, he was racing and you can either believe it or not. My passenger was hiding the camera because we didn't want to spook the M3 driver. People around here don't like to be taped street racing. Sometimes it scares them off.Originally posted by MMJ4mil
haha ur car got owned
he wasnt even racing.
he is too balla not too
Chris
Like I said in my post, my tuning wasn't off. It was even conservative. My A/F ratio was rich, I wasn't getting any knock, and I had been monitoring everything on my laptop the day before. I can even post a datalog.Originally posted by binh
ouch, your tuning must have bene off a little bit or something???...my friend had a 20g in his fwd laser and boosted 24psi on the street...dynoed at 375 at the wheels with stock internals and never blew shit apart like that....wowsers...
good luck with the new motor..
I was making more than 375 to the wheels. I also have more drivetrain loss than the FWD car, which means he was making even less at the crank than I would have been w/ the same whp. I'm guessing I was making somewhere close to 500 at the engine, and right around 400 or a little less at the wheels.
Chris
Hey speshuled619,Originally posted by speshuled619
i have love for all cars but in look at it at all the angles. your car is pretty well built, you said your pushing somewhere in the area of 450hp. now i know the m3 is a 300 hp car and it came like that stock. but if the m3 put half of the money that you spent on your car than the m3 would also be faster. so how would that race end up. i know its easy to build any car to be faster than another stock car but what if that other stock car is also fixed up. and the driver was aware of a race and really was into it? would it be a different story? how much does a person need to spend on their car just to make it as fast as the next car, its something that us gear heads will do for ever, but to call the M3 a sucky car isnt right. yet i also remind you that bmw's especially M's are not meant to go in a straight line. try to take it out in the twisties, its a whole new ball game from there.
I agree with most of the points you made. I'm definitely not about to argue the points of a modifed Eclipse vs a BMW M3, because I've already had multiple threads locked for that reason.
To each their own. Again, I wasn't trying to start shit, or say my car was better than the M3 by posting this video. Sorry if this offended anyone.
Chris
My car was in great shape. That's why it broke, actually. I had just put in a new turbo, new tranny, new cams, cam gears, etc. I had gone over every little detail. Compression and leak down tests indicated the internals were in perfect shape. The rings were sealing fine. It was only a matter of time before one of my little 7-bolt connecting rods would give out. I knew it was going to happen as a result of the HP eventually, but I just didn't expect it so soon.Originally posted by dave is cool
Damn, that really sucks bad man. But why did you race if you knew your car was in such bad shape? What road were you racing on?
Chris
Chris -
Wait though ... don't you need a good 2-3K miles to let everything settle if you just rebuilt the engine?
Thanks for the support NoSoup!!Originally posted by NoSoup4U
Hmm...that's unfortunate it happened. No matter which car it happens to ... blowing the engine is never a good thing -- many f/i bimmer members can attest to this.
What a prick that E46 M3 guy was ... he should have pulled over to help. Because he was DEFINITELY behind you and could see what was happening. If I ever see this guy, I'll hunt him down and lay the smack on him for you ... over and over ... and over
5500 is the generally accepted optimal launch RPM on an AWD DSM. I don't get any wheelhop since I've upgraded my suspension.Originally posted by NoSoup4U
Why did you launch at 5500 rpm's? Isnt' that WAY to high on a GSX? I would think 2-3K would be the prime spot to avoid wheel hop.
900 C is considered the safe max, so 880 C isn't that low. This failure wasn't due to heat though. My car was plenty warm, as we were about 15 minutes into the highway drive.Originally posted by NoSoup4U
Let me ask a question, those EGT's seem REALLY low ... what was your oil temperature when you tried this? Are you sure your car was adequately warmed up enough? I know that some people in civics/integra's/eclipses in my apartment have followed me onto the highway and have revved their engine, downshifted and raced away from me ... but, I let them ... since I give my vehicle at least 20 minutes before really trying to get on the fun pedal.
Chris
I didn't just rebuild my engine.Originally posted by NoSoup4U
Chris -
Wait though ... don't you need a good 2-3K miles to let everything settle if you just rebuilt the engine?
Chris
Sorry, I thought you had just re-worked the engine....new cams, cam gears, etc. I had gone over every little detail. Compression and leak down tests indicated the internals were in perfect shape. The rings were sealing fine.
Um...Are you sure he was trying there hawse? It definatly didn't look like it in the video. Plus, I don't care what you did to the rice rocket (they're cool cars, don't get me wrong) but there is no way in hell that you'd beat him if he were trying, and didn't suck like a hoover. Did he stall out?
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